Well, it may have happened three weeks ago, but you know our motto: "If we haven't seen it, it's new to us!" Everybody following our little drama here is well aware of the years-long ongoing catfight between Steve Jobs and Mike Dell, just as you all know that the latest battleground in this epic struggle of mercurial vs. mediocre is the education market. Ol' Mikey's been less than subtle about his triumph in wresting the educational sales crown away from Steve, as school boards with ever-tightening budgets are all too willing to save a few bucks by buying Dells instead of Macs-- at the cost of the students' educational experience, of course, but hey, when was the last time anyone put a price tag on that? Whatever. In any case, schools are now buying more computers from Dell than from Apple, and only those with the hardest of hearts and/or the thickest of skulls would deny that such a situation is both sick and wrong on a number of levels.

But do you suppose that the giddy thrill of victory has made Mike a little sloppy? With all those cash-poor grade schools, middle schools, and high schools lining up to buy his boxes, maybe he's gotten cocky enough to think he can blithely alienate the colleges and universities. Faithful viewer Jason passed along an official Harvard University letter alerting the faculty and staff that the campus Technology Product Center "will no longer be authorized to offer Dell Computer products to the Harvard Community," as "Dell has elected to discontinue its distribution agreement" with the TPC rather than give "best price assurance" as other vendors have done. No motive for Dell's pullout is given, other than a passing reference to the company's choice of pursuing a "direct sales model"-- though we can't help but recall that Steve's daughter attended Harvard. Coincidence?

However, if Mike's greatly insane obsession with All Things Steve has prompted him to alienate what is probably the most recognized name in higher education in the world, we can't help but feel he may have made a teensy error in judgment. And talk about a golden opportunity for Steve to mount a serious counterattack; in its letter, the Harvard TPC notes that it has "issued an RFI [Request For Information]" and expects "aggressive responses from current partners"-- including Apple. Here's what we think: if Apple is serious about prying Mike off that education throne before he screws up Steve's butt groove, its "aggressive response" should come on like tanks rolling across the border. Whatever your personal opinion of Harvard, it's tough to deny that it would be really nice if Apple could get most of that university solidly and visibly on board with the Mac platform-- and with the distinctly bitter tone just dripping off that faculty letter, we bet Steve could pull it off.